Open Thread – Weekend 15 July 2023


Marie Antoinette being taken to her Execution, William Hamiliton, 1794

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Dot
Dot
July 17, 2023 2:25 pm

After Sept 11, depts of Home Security arose that have turned surveillance more extensively and more openly onto each country’s domestic populations. It’s not a difficult jump to see the coordination occurring there.

Considering all telephone calls use Telstra in some way (no, really) or that your NBN is reliant on an NBN box, the internet is really a giant open police interview.

VPN? Apple security?

Seems dubious!

Don’t do anything illegal on the net.
Don’t do anything embarrassing on the net.

On the net, women are men.
On the net, kids are Feds.

Ed Case
Ed Case
July 17, 2023 2:27 pm

Is planting flammable Native Trees really such a priority for this Council?
How about planting some grass on the Cricket Ground instead?
And watering it.

Dot
Dot
July 17, 2023 2:28 pm

“NBN box” –> AFP/ASIO/DPP evidence collection device.

shatterzzz
July 17, 2023 2:29 pm

When Luigi goes to Europe does he visit the waiter? People with time on their hands would like to know.

The waiter is like Juliar’s knitting .. Woman’s Weekly soft soap! ..
still reckon Daddy is the bloke with the black tie .. LOL!
https://ibb.co/m4jPBGc

Ed Case
Ed Case
July 17, 2023 2:36 pm

At least Albanese’s mum paid her way back to Australia, unlike a certain 10 Pound Pom.

shatterzzz
July 17, 2023 2:38 pm

Every person of Aboriginal ancestry will be gifted a one off $1,000,000 dollars

Am I missing the bit about .. to the victor the spoils ..?

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 17, 2023 2:40 pm

Critical CCTV footage of Bruce Lehrmann and Brittany Higgins in parliament house on the night of her alleged rape has been handed over to court, after a top silk in the defamation proceedings demanded to know why it wasn’t produced earlier.

Groogs. What did we tell you?

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
July 17, 2023 2:41 pm

Dr F, even for the AEC, prepping for this shouldn’t be hard.
No half-acre Senate papers or candidates in 150 electorates to sort out.
Just a single ballot nation-wide with the usual cardboard box and pencil suppliers and regular casual staff.
So they could conceivably go within a few weeks.
Honestly, the only logic in going early would be if they concede it’s a dead duck and want it out of the way.
The AFL Grand Final is Saturday 30th September, with the NRL Grand Final on Sunday 1st October, and that Saturday is outside the time window if he was looking to bury it under football.
I reckon that leaves 9th and 16th December to use Christmas to drown out the Blaklash.
My butcher’s paper says 9th December.

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 17, 2023 2:43 pm

When Luigi goes to Europe does he visit the waiter? People with time on their hands would like to know.

Meathinks Baba Luigi might not be da only one somehow.

Boambee John
Boambee John
July 17, 2023 2:44 pm

Ed Case
Jul 17, 2023 2:10 PM
We have to say we’re voting No regardless of any hurt feelings or violent reprisals.
Violent reprisals?
Get a grip, grandma.
We’re talkin bout a piece of paper, not the St. Bartholomews Day Massacre.

Turd Case, ever loyal to the leftard play book.

Learn some (recent) history, try 2020 in the US. Idiot.

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 17, 2023 2:48 pm

Did I miss the pile on?

Ed Case
Ed Case
July 17, 2023 2:49 pm

You swore on a stack of family grimoires that the video didn’t exist.
Has it been edited?

shatterzzz
July 17, 2023 2:53 pm

At least Albanese’s mum paid her way back to Australia, unlike a certain 10 Pound Pom.
Onya Ed .. LOL!
https://ibb.co/Pz3F1XH

Annie
Annie
July 17, 2023 2:54 pm

Personally I much prefer Daisy Cousen’s voice to Liz Storer’s. I find the latter very harsh, not helped either by the sight of so much slapped-on bright red lipstick. They are both intelligent women.

Johnny Rotten
Johnny Rotten
July 17, 2023 2:55 pm

Depleted Uranium Shells Explode in Ukraine

“The interesting issue concerning radiation detection in Ukraine is that after stating that radiation was detected, the West claims there is none. Russia claims to have bombed an ammunition depot containing depleted Uranium shells, which will contaminate the landscape. Britain supplied these shells to Ukraine – that much we know. Russia claims that a radioactive cloud is now drifting toward Western Europe, and the EU denies it. As I have said, the first casualty of war is always the truth. The EU will certainly not admit such a thing, for that would confirm that they gave Ukraine illegal weapons. On the other hand, denying that means people, crops, and animals can get sick, and then what, we blamed another virus?

The United States in April wired Ukraine so they could identify any nuclear attack. We do know that the British defense ministry confirmed it would provide Ukraine with armor-piercing rounds containing depleted uranium. The U.S. developed these during the Cold War to destroy Soviet tanks.

Putin did accuse London of proliferating “weapons with a nuclear component,” while the British called this “disinformation.” Depleted uranium is based on the isotope U-235 which is extracted from natural uranium ore and this is even used as fuel for reactors and in nuclear weapons. This process is called enrichment. But the content of the “useful” isotope in the ore is about 10%. The remaining 90% of the isotope contains negligible amounts of U-235, which consist mainly of the slightly radioactive U-238. This is the depleted uranium which can be described as waste from the enrichment process.

This depleted uranium is very dense. This means that it is much heavier than, for example, steel shells of the same size. Consequently, the force of energy upon impact is very strong which enables it to penetrate armor. The depleted uranium does not explode, but small fragments that can penetrate armor can easily be ignited. Therefore, a projectile made of this material is an armor-piercing incendiary material. The US has also been using it in shells of high-speed smaller caliber guns of 25-30mm used on Infantry-Fighting Vehicles (IFV) and attack aircraft.

The US first used them during Operation Desert Storm in 1991. Literally, hundreds of thousands of such shells were used in Iraq. The Pentagon also acknowledged that they used these shells in the former Yugoslavia, Iraq, and Syria. These depleted uranium shells are not subject to nuclear non-proliferation rules. Therefore, in terms of international law, they have yet to be classified separately. Nor are there any international agreements that would regulate the supply of them specifically. Thus, the West argues Russia cannot object to their use. They are not party to any treaty and they are outside of any consideration being nuclear weapons.

What we do know is that depleted uranium shells have a radioactive component. Prior to firing, such projectiles are safe whereby the weak radiation is unable to penetrate skin and clothing. However, if such a shell penetrates armor, a cloud of tiny fragments or dust is produced. It is this radioactive and toxic dust that presents a danger both to the crew of the affected vehicle, as the dust can enter the lungs and digestive tract, and to civilians, as it can enter the soil and water in the area.

There were secret studies on the dangers of uranium dust following Desert Storm given the high volume of their use. The only people anyone was concerned about were approximately 170 Americans who came in contact with this dust. The conclusion was that they could NOT rule out that depleted uranium might be one of the causes of “Gulf War Syndrome” – the chronic, poorly-explained varied ailments of ex-soldiers. This matched similar findings from Yugoslavia where it was called “Balkan syndrome” where once again depleted uranium was cited. Tens of thousands of aircraft rounds were left in equipment debris and soil. Then, soldiers from several European countries also fell ill. Many died of Leukaemia – in the Belgian contingent alone, five died rather abruptly.

Only when these strange diseases were emerging in the Balkans during the mid-1990s were finally uncovered in 2001, did we find European protests. Belgium, Germany, Italy, and France all approached Washington and were demanding explanations. The military just insisted that the shells were safe. However, it was also in 2001 when the USA finally conducted research involving military veterans. They concluded at that time that depleted uranium in a quantity that they considered dangerous had not been found in the bodies of wounded soldiers. Germany conducted its own research not trusting the United States. Tests were carried out on 120 soldiers who had served in Kosovo and showed no deviations from the age norm.

In 2009, an Italian court ordered the country’s defense ministry to pay a hefty compensation – €1.4 million – to the family of a soldier who fell ill with cancer and died after serving in Somalia in the early 1990s. The death was attributed to depleted uranium. In truth, a number of organizations have been calling for a ban or restriction on the use of depleted uranium projectiles since the early 2000s. The military seems unmoved to conduct any study on the possible long-term effects on civilians who return to the land where the battle was fought. Rumors of cancers in Iraq get no press time.

Naturally, those in the military claim that the danger of depleted uranium projectiles is exaggerated. Of course, we have no idea if the use of these shells is polluting the environment whereby Ukraine has been the bread basket of Europe. Nobody knows if this will have any impact on the food supply of Europe in the decades ahead.”

https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/war/depleted-uraniun-shells-explode-in-ukraine/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=RSS

Cassie of Sydney
July 17, 2023 3:13 pm

“She reminds me of Cassie, not in appearance at all (sorry Cass, we are no longer in that league if we ever were) but in the tenacity and firmness of her opinions.

Lizzie, I was and remain in that league!

Dunny Brush
Dunny Brush
July 17, 2023 3:14 pm

How does Anthony get away with claiming he’s an Italian when he didn’t know his father and was bought up in allegedly bog-standard Australian suburbia? Half of Europe would be the progeny of horny Aussie backpackers, but that don’t march around in cork hats demanding respect. Mystifying.

Cassie of Sydney
July 17, 2023 3:15 pm

“They are both intelligent women.”

Yes.

johanna
johanna
July 17, 2023 3:24 pm

Julie Burchill (a proud TERF. BTW) skewers the actors’ ‘strike’:

AFTER the pandemic forced us to realise it’s the people who do the low-status jobs – the bin collectors and shelf-stackers – who are the most valuable and least valued by society, the Hollywood actors’ strike seems not just silly but surreal.

If the refuse collectors went on strike, we’d die of rat plague. If the shelf-stackers did, we’d starve.

When actors go on strike, we watch films and TV from a golden age before wokeness made entertainment boring.

and

This week Matt Damon — net worth an estimated £130million — told Variety, as he posed on the red carpet at the premiere of Oppenheimer, that “this is real life-and-death stuff”.

The film began its London premiere an hour early to allow its cast to smile for the cameras before the strike came into effect.

Before the film was shown, director Christopher Nolan announced that its stars had left the building in solidarity with their fellow actors.

Can’t you just imagine the conversations in the luvvie loos at the after-party? “Did you see my solidarity-flounce?”

“Darling, it was divine — did you see my power-to-the-people pout?”

Speaking of which, having checked in early yesterday to find the diarrhoea of emotional incontinence spraying everywhere, I decided to spend the day enjoying the sun via a picnic by the river with some pals. No point in engaging, you just get covered with smelly liquid.

My comment is – it must be hard when the only way you can face the world is via 100% praise, all the time. If 150 words on a blog (shades of Mark Steyn) are so devastating that you go into an emotional tailspin and try to blackmail the blog owner by withdrawing financial support, I almost (not quite) feel sorry for you. The ‘not quite’ is because we have seen this schtick so many times before.

You don’t fool me, as a chronic liar, boaster and fantasist here. Recent members don’t know the history, but if you keep up the ‘poor me’ nonsense, I will take them through it, chapter and verse.

BTW, I got 100/100 for arithmetic in 3rd class, and have the report card to prove it. 🙂

Dot
Dot
July 17, 2023 3:27 pm

This week Matt Damon — net worth an estimated £130million — told Variety, as he posed on the red carpet at the premiere of Oppenheimer, that “this is real life-and-death stuff”.

Tell it to the IJN Marines!

cohenite
July 17, 2023 3:28 pm

H B Bear
Jul 17, 2023 10:24 AM
Linda Burney couldn’t sell air to a drowning man.

Or lube to a prostitute specialising in bum sex.

cohenite
July 17, 2023 3:32 pm

Petition for nuclear power in Australia:

https://www.nuclearforaustralia.com/petition

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 17, 2023 3:35 pm

How does Anthony get away with claiming he’s an Italian when he didn’t know his father and was bought up in allegedly bog-standard Australian suburbia?

Houso la dolce vita

Lysander
Lysander
July 17, 2023 3:36 pm

Houso la dolce vita

Housollomio!!! 😛

Dot
Dot
July 17, 2023 3:39 pm

Learn this one neat trick for safe and efficient nuclear energy.

LFTRs in 5 minutes – Thorium Reactors
123ross456
3.18K subscribers
3,058,050 views Mar 11, 2012

A short video of Kirk Sorensen taking us through the benefits of Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors, a revolutionary liquid reactor that runs not on uranium, but thorium. These work and have been built before. Search for either LFTRs or Molten Salt Reactors (MSR).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uK367T7h6ZY

shatterzzz
July 17, 2023 3:39 pm

was bought up in allegedly bog-standard Australian suburbia?

Geez!.. if, genteel, Camperdown “houso” is “bog-standard” I’ll be happy not to read your definition of, us, western Sydney “houso estate folk .. LOL!

Lysander
Lysander
July 17, 2023 3:42 pm

Well thank the Lord Tasmania has its priorities sorted out!!!

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-07-17/asexual-people-officially-recognised-by-tasmanian-government/102605830

So Tassie will now call alphabet people LBGTIA+

johanna
johanna
July 17, 2023 3:44 pm

Mother Lode
Jul 17, 2023 10:03 AM

If and when Da Voice is voted down it will pass into progressive lore as a beautiful dream denied.

Very perceptive.

History will rapidly be rewritten to ‘prove’ that Australia and Australians are racist pigs, and it will be taught in schools and universities.

Still, winners are grinners. 🙂

Lee
Lee
July 17, 2023 3:47 pm

Wall Street Silver
@WallStreetSilv
JUST IN: Farmers in Ireland are protesting against the government’s plan to slaughter 200,000 dairy cows to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

55,000 direct and indirect jobs are threatened ???

Why do governments push these crazy plans to reduce food supply?

And yet recently, a UN official/moron was claiming that there was a world wide foot shortage.

Then why the concerted push (probably originating from the UN/WEF) to put thousands of farms out business in places like the Netherlands and Sri Lanka?

The cognitive dissonance of the left never ceases to amaze me.

Chris
Chris
July 17, 2023 3:48 pm

Turd Case, ever loyal to the leftard play book.

It’s a puzzle how you can say that Boambee John.
If I accidentally finish reading one of his posts, it is to recoil in awe at the level of WTF he can produce.

Scroll on byyy.
Scroll on byyyy.
Dah dahdah dahdah daaaa
Scroll on bye.

Lee
Lee
July 17, 2023 3:48 pm

Food shortage!

Lysander
Lysander
July 17, 2023 3:49 pm

Those telling poor/working folk, who can’t afford their energy bills, to fix this problem by buying some solar panels, is a bit off…. If they had a handy $15K, I’m sure they’d be able to pay their power bills!!!

Chris
Chris
July 17, 2023 3:50 pm

Houso la dolce vita

Housollomio!!! ?

Triplo concentrato
Di pomodoro…

Lysander
Lysander
July 17, 2023 3:51 pm

And yet recently, a UN official/moron was claiming that there was a world wide foot shortage.

I think the plural is “feet?” 😛

johanna
johanna
July 17, 2023 3:52 pm

Lysander
Jul 17, 2023 3:42 PM

Well thank the Lord Tasmania has its priorities sorted out!!!

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-07-17/asexual-people-officially-recognised-by-tasmanian-government/102605830

So Tassie will now call alphabet people LBGTIA+

It just gets weirder. No doubt there have always been people who aren’t interested in having sex. So? In what way were they victims?

According to the article, one or two people felt that they weren’t being ‘recognised’ because they weren’t interested in having sex. So, the Tasmanian Government has fixed it.

What on earth has it got to do with anyone, let alone the State Government, whether or not someone is interested in having sex? This is Monty Python territory.

Ed Case
Ed Case
July 17, 2023 3:54 pm

Nuclear Power is Voter Kryptonite, it’s worse than Campbell Newman.

All Dutton hazta do in 2025 is say
We’ll fix up Labor’s Mess

Start taking about Nuclear Power and voters will assume he’s a FruitLoop and switch off.
Nuclear Power is unsellable in Australia.

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 17, 2023 3:57 pm

Housollomio

I think I saw that on special at Colesworths last week.

Lysander
Lysander
July 17, 2023 3:58 pm

Lol Johanna!!! I didn’t even read that far and, now that I have, yup… what a time to be alive.

(And to think, most people thought, the Black Plague was humanity’s low point)

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
July 17, 2023 3:59 pm

another ian
Jul 17, 2023 1:46 PM

FWIW

“THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING NATO”

https://richardsonpost.com/dmitri-orlov/32364/ukraine-and-nato-standards/

So, what did the Ukrainians do to raise the ire of the Pentagon so suddenly, and as a direct consequence, fall into disfavor with NATO? In short, the Ukrainians demonstrated that NATO’s weapons are crap.

Evidence of this built up slowly over time. First, it turned out that various bits of US-made shoulder-fired junk — anti-aircraft Stingers, anti-tank Javelins, etc — are rather worse than useless in modern combat. Next, it turned out that the M777 howitzer and the HIMARS rocket complex are rather fragile and aren’t field-maintainable.

The next wonder-weapon thrown at the Ukrainian problem was the Patriot missile battery. It was deployed near Kiev and the Russians quickly made a joke of it. They attacked it with their super-cheap Geranium 2 “flying moped” drones, causing it to turn on its active radar, thereby unmasking its position, and then fire off its entire load of rockets — a million dollars’ worth! — after which point it just sat there, unmasked and defenseless, and was taken out by a single Russian precision rocket strike.

This was sure to have seriously pissed off US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, whose major personal cash cow happens to be Raytheon, the maker of the Patriot. Yes, the Patriot proved useless using the First Gulf War, where it failed to protect Israel against ancient Iraqi Scud missiles; and it proved useless later on when it failed to protect Saudi oil installations against ancient Yemeni Scud missiles… but you aren’t supposed to advertise that fact. And now this!

And to top it all off, the German-donated Leopard 2 tanks and the US-donated Bradley infantry vehicles, not to mention the silly French wheeled non-tanks, performed absolutely miserably during the recent Ukrainian efforts to approach, never mind penetrate, Russia’s first line of defense.

Rubbing salt into the wounds, Putin remarked off-the-cuff that Western armor burns rather more easily than the old Soviet-made stuff.

The latest desperate move would be to give the Ukrainian air force (which, by the way, no longer exists) some older F-16 fighter jets.

These can be anywhere up to 50 years old and are peculiar in having an air intake that’s very close to the ground, making them very effective as runway vacuum cleaners during takeoff.

They cannot operate from the dirty and pitted runways that are typical in the Ukraine because the debris would get sucked into the engine and destroy it. If the Ukrainians attempt to pave new runways for them, the Russians would instantly spot this from the geosynchronous satellite that is permanently pointed at Ukrainian territory.

Rather than put some fresh bomb craters on these new runways, they could do something more subtle: use one of their super-cheap Geranium 2’s to spread metal shaving for the F-16’s engines to vacuum up… and burn up in flight.

And since these are single-engine planes, there is no possibility of limping home on the remaining engine: the pilot would have to catapult and the plane would crash.

But there is an even more important reason why the idea of giving F-16’s for the Ukraine is unworkable: these planes are able to carry nuclear bombs and Russia has already announced that it would see this step as a nuclear escalation.

But provoking a nuclear conflict with Russia is verboten, so F-16’s are a no-go.

Why is the failure of relentlessly propagandized Western weaponry more important than just about anything else, including the increasingly dire state of Western finances, the ridiculous failure of anti-Russian sanctions, the obscenely huge numbers of Ukrainian casualties or the general Western fatigue with all things Ukrainian and especially with the flood of Ukrainian refugees that the West can no longer cope with?

The reason is simple: NATO is not a defensive organization (remember, USSR has been gone for over 30 years)

nor is it an offensive organization (well, it did bomb Serbia and a few other relatively defenseless countries, but it can’t possibly think about facing off against Russia or any other well-armed nation).

Rather, NATO is a captive buyers’ club for US-made weapons.

That is what vaunted NATO standards, with which the Ukraine must comply before it is deemed worthy to be invited to join NATO, are all about: to comply with these standards, your weapons have to be mostly US-made.

That is also the reason for all of the various wars of choice, from Serbia to Iraq to Afghanistan to Libya and Syria: these were demonstration projects for US weapons, with the additional goal of using up the weapons and the munitions so that the Pentagon and the rest of NATO would have to reorder them.

The geopolitical rationales for these military conflicts are mere rationalizations.

For instance, between 1964 and 1973, the U.S. dropped more than 2.5 million tons of bombs on Laos during 580,000 bombing sorties—equal to a planeload of bombs every eight minutes, 24 hours a day, for nine years. What was the geopolitical rationale? Nobody can even remember if there ever was one.

But those bombs were about to expire and needed to be used up and reordered to keep the money flowing.

In response to such strange inducements, US-made weapons tend to be overly complex (so that their makers can charge more for the useless extra features) and rather fragile (never tested against a peer adversary like Russia or China, or even against Iran), developed slowly (to clean up on R&D funding), built slowly (because what’s the rush?) and very high-maintenance (so that US defense contractors can get even richer delivering spare parts and service).

These weapons were supposed to be tested every so gently by giving hell to backward tribesmen armed with old Kalashnikovs and RPGs.

The sight of Western armor ablaze does not make good advertising.

Consequently, the US defense contractors must be very eager to stop this steady stream of negative advertising for their products to stop right this second — before their reputations end up completely ruined; hence the unseemly haste with which the entire Ukrainian project is being orphaned.

The alternative to active warfare, now that that’s failed, is what in the West is usually called “negotiation” but in reality would involve acceding to Russian demands made in November of 2021 (which include NATO rolling back its weapons to where they were in 1997), plus more recent requirements, such as denazification, demilitarization and neutrality for what remains of the Ukraine, recognition of Russia’s new borders (which include Crimea, Kherson, Zaporozhye, Donetsk and Lugansk regions) and prosecution for all of the Ukrainian war criminals, including all the ones that have been torturing prisoners of war and shelling civilians since 2014. Oh, and the lifting of all the insipid sanctions would be required as well.

But this is rather a lot to take in at a single sitting, and so NATO has decided to take lots of bite-sized pieces.

The official NATO document linked above is maximally verbose and full of fluff, but a close reading of its turgid bureaucratese will reveal quite a number of concessions, or at least hints at concessions:

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 17, 2023 4:01 pm

Final Paywallian comment rate – 50% rejection rate. Right on target.

Bar Beach Swimmer
July 17, 2023 4:01 pm

Done, cohenite.

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 17, 2023 4:02 pm

Still 0% here. Dover ya big softy.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
July 17, 2023 4:09 pm

Vilnius Summit Communiqué

Issued by NATO Heads of State and Government participating in the meeting of the North Atlantic Council in Vilnius 11 July 2023

69. Climate change is a defining challenge with a profound impact on Allied security facing present and future generations.

It remains a threat multiplier. NATO is committed to becoming the leading international organisation when it comes to understanding and adapting to the impact of climate change on security. We will continue to address the impact of climate change on defence and security, including through the development of innovative strategic analysis tools. We will integrate climate change considerations into all of NATO’s core tasks, adapt our infrastructure, military capabilities and technologies ensuring resilience to future operating environments. To contribute to the mitigation of climate change, we are committed to significantly cutting greenhouse gas emissions by the NATO political and military structures and facilities; we will also contribute to combatting climate change by improving energy efficiency, transitioning to clean energy sources, and leveraging innovative next-generation clean technologies, while ensuring military effectiveness and a credible deterrence and defence posture. We will continue to strengthen our exchanges with partner countries, the scientific community, as well as other international and regional organisations that are active on climate change and security. We welcome the establishment of a NATO Centre of Excellence for Climate Change and Security in Montreal.

70. We are committed to integrating the Human Security and the Women, Peace and Security agendas across all our core tasks.

We will continue to work towards fully operationalising this objective, through robust policies and clear operational guidelines, in order to enhance our operational effectiveness and ensure synergies between the civilian and military structures. In doing so, we are working with partners, international organisations, and civil society. We reaffirm our commitment to an ambitious human security agenda. Our Human Security Approach and Guiding Principles allows us to develop a more comprehensive view of the human environment, contributing to lasting peace and security. Today, we endorse a NATO Policy on Children and Armed Conflict, and an updated Policy on Combatting Trafficking in Human Beings. Our ongoing work on human security also includes cultural property protection.

71. We recognise the critical importance of women’s full, equal, and meaningful participation in all aspects of peace and stability, noting the disproportionate impact that conflict has on women and girls, including through conflict-related sexual violence.

We will consistently continue to implement our Policy on Women, Peace and Security, and, in this context, we will advance gender equality and integrate gender perspectives and foster the principles of the Women, Peace and Security agenda set out by the UN Security Council in all that we do, including in NATO operations, missions, activities, and our work on emerging challenges. We will assess and update NATO’s Policy on Women, Peace and Security.

Vicki
Vicki
July 17, 2023 4:11 pm

What on earth has it got to do with anyone, let alone the State Government, whether or not someone is interested in having sex? This is Monty Python territory.

The annoying thing, johanna, is that the Monty Python crew would today not be permitted to satirise it.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
July 17, 2023 4:12 pm

Shaterzz
You fell for my cunning ruse.
The $1,000,000 is the headline number.
The second bit winds it back significantly for 90% of Abbos.
Especially the city mobs

Dot
Dot
July 17, 2023 4:15 pm

Nuclear power will win elections soon in Australia.

Frank
Frank
July 17, 2023 4:16 pm

On the net, kids are Feds.

Amen to that one.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
July 17, 2023 4:20 pm

Part of Crimean Bridge road section destroyed – media

The infrastructure’s supports have remained undamaged, Russia’s Ministry of Transport has said

One span of the Crimean Bridge has been destroyed, with another part damaged during an “emergency” which claimed at least two lives, several media outlets reported on Monday.

Russia’s Ministry of Transport has confirmed that the bridge’s road surface on one of the tracks has been damaged. However, it did not corroborate reports about more extensive damage, saying that “the span constructions remain on their supports.”

Photos and videos from the scene shared by Telegram channels Baza and Mash show considerable damage to the key link between the Crimean Peninsula and mainland Russia, with one of the spans hanging lower than the others.

Traffic on the Crimean Bridge was stopped on Monday morning, with Crimean Governor Sergey Aksyonov citing an unspecified “emergency.” Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said that a married couple from his region was killed in the incident, while their daughter was injured. According to RIA Novosti, she was admitted to a hospital and is now in intensive care.

While the bridge has been targeted by Ukraine in the past, Kiev officials have not confirmed their involvement in the incident – but have cheered it. Andrey Yusov, a spokesman for Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence, said the Crimean Bridge is a “redundant construction,” refusing to elaborate further.

johanna
johanna
July 17, 2023 4:20 pm

Scroll on byyy.
Scroll on byyyy.
Dah dahdah dahdah daaaa
Scroll on bye.

BJ seems to have some need to play whack-a-mole.

The effect is to double the exposure of that which he claims to deprecate. But, his need is greater.

I scroll by both.

Boambee John
Boambee John
July 17, 2023 4:23 pm

Ed Case
Jul 17, 2023 2:49 PM
You swore on a stack of family grimoires that the video didn’t exist.
Has it been edited?

You tell us. You implied very clearly that it didn’t even exist, yet it has already been broadcast on FTA TV.

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
July 17, 2023 4:23 pm

Shatterzz seem to reall you live in Fairfield area. Now classified as “bog”. Could be worse, Campbelltown or hole in road.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
July 17, 2023 4:24 pm

To Quoye a Cat Reply to my quuestion “Is the Pope a Caholic”

“No Shit Sherlock”

Aboriginal activist says ‘Welcome To Country’ ceremonies are becoming so frequent they’re losing their meaning

. Kiescha Haines-Jamieson is an outspoken No advocate
. She says there are too many Welcome to Country rituals

Bar Beach Swimmer
July 17, 2023 4:26 pm

I think if Luigi pushes the vote too far forward – especially into December – it will alienate even more voters, if they needed anything more to alienate them. Even now voters are realising that their financial plight is of no concern to the government. What will that be like by December?

And December is all about Christmas, and nothing else; what to get the kids and how to pay for it. But with no relief to help them keep everything together, a voice vote in December will only rub salt into their wounds.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
July 17, 2023 4:26 pm

The $1,000,000 is the headline number.
The second bit winds it back significantly for 90% of Abbos.
Especially the city mobs

Given that there are less than 15,000 Aborigines who are not of mixed race, and given there are those claiming Aboriginal ancestry on the basis of an Aboriginal great great grandfather, it would be an interesting exercise.

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
July 17, 2023 4:27 pm

I miss mutley, Special Ed just can’t keep up with the level of stupid with the rakemeister.

Boambee John
Boambee John
July 17, 2023 4:28 pm

johanna

History will rapidly be rewritten to ‘prove’ that Australia and Australians are racist pigs, and it will be taught in schools and universities.

This has already happened, so “NO” voters have nothing to lose.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
July 17, 2023 4:29 pm

Young Ladies Why Tats Look Horrible!

New King and Queen of Centre Court Carlos Alcaraz and Marketa Vondrousova celebrate their new Wimbledon titles at Champions Dinner (but the Czech winner keeps her trainers on for glitzy event)

Carlos Alcaraz and Marketa Vondrousova posed with their trophies at the event

From the Comments

– Did a child doodle over her arms?

– Those tattoos look horrendous

– The tattoos are terrible ugly

Rosie
Rosie
July 17, 2023 4:30 pm

Elbow can’t visit his dad, he’s dead, he does have some half siblings around.
Pretty awkward circumstances.

Boambee John
Boambee John
July 17, 2023 4:31 pm

johanna

Jul 17, 2023 3:52 PM
Lysander
Jul 17, 2023 3:42 PM

Well thank the Lord Tasmania has its priorities sorted out!!!

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-07-17/asexual-people-officially-recognised-by-tasmanian-government/102605830

So Tassie will now call alphabet people LBGTIA+

It just gets weirder. No doubt there have always been people who aren’t interested in having sex. So? In what way were they victims?

According to the article, one or two people felt that they weren’t being ‘recognised’ because they weren’t interested in having sex. So, the Tasmanian Government has fixed it.

They used to be called “incels”, which was a term of contempt. Maybe this is what passes for progress?

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
July 17, 2023 4:31 pm

Linus
2 hours ago
Is that a smoking ceremony in WA?
No…
It’s just the yes campaign going up in flames.

Tom
Tom
July 17, 2023 4:36 pm

69. Climate change is a defining challenge with a profound impact on Allied security facing present and future generations.

Putin is laughing his head off. The clowns in charge of NATO’s military campaign to remove him are quasi-religious zealots who think they can control the weather.

He won’t even have to wait for winter to beat them. They’re beating themselves. Stupid frigging big nose fairies.

Boambee John
Boambee John
July 17, 2023 4:38 pm

thefrollickingmole
Jul 17, 2023 4:12 PM
Shaterzz
You fell for my cunning ruse.
The $1,000,000 is the headline number.
The second bit winds it back significantly for 90% of Abbos.
Especially the city mobs

And the really good, but unspoken, bit is that the urban fauxborigines would have to produce genealogical evidence to qualify even for their reduced share. Which they would try, and in many cases (Hello, Bruce Pascoe.) fail.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
July 17, 2023 4:44 pm

Karma is a Bitch

Traditional owners at war with Fortescue sign big green energy deal

Brad Thompson – Reporter

Traditional owners embroiled in a high-stakes legal battle with Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue Metals Group have signed a deal to develop one of Australia’s biggest renewables projects in partnership with Philippines-listed ACEN.

The Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation and ACEN have joined forces on an ambitious plan to develop, own and operate large-scale renewable energy projects of up to 3 gigawatts in Western Australia’s iron ore-rich Pilbara.

The Yindjibarndi have the strongest form of native rights, known as exclusive possession.

They expect to start work on stage one, which comes with a $1 billion price tag and is targeting 750 megawatts of combined wind, solar and battery storage, within the next few years.

The agreement has been framed to ensure Yindjibarndi approval of all proposed project sites, Yindjibarndi equity of 25 per cent to 50 per cent in all projects, preferred contracting for Yindjibarndi-owned businesses, and training and employment opportunities for Yindjibarndi people.

The Yindjibarndi land earmarked for the project sits close to Rio Tinto power lines and just far enough inland to be outside the severe cyclone zone in the Pilbara.

The deal between the Yindjibarndi and ACEN, which is owned by the Philippines-based Ayala Group, comes as a 16-year battle between the native titleholders and Fortescue comes to a head through a compensation claim in the Federal Court.

In 2020, Fortescue was left exposed to the compensation claim, which has been estimated at up to $500 million, after the High Court denied the company special leave to appeal against earlier rulings from six Federal Court judges that effectively mean part of the company’s Solomon iron ore mining hub was built without the permission of traditional owners.

The Federal Court is scheduled to resume hearing evidence in Roebourne next month then spend several days hearing from Yindjibarndi witnesses on country near the Solomon operations, where it is alleged mine development destroyed significant cultural heritage sites.

It is understood the Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation and Fortescue have been in talks about resolving the dispute. “We would like the matter with the Yindjibarndi people resolved as quickly as possible and preferably outside the courts,” a Fortescue spokesman said.

Decision to lead

YAC chief executive Michael Woodley said the corporation had instigated a move into renewable energy, partly in response to concerns about climate change, and gone looking for a suitable partner.

“We know that our country is well located for renewable energy development, so we made the decision early to lead. We established a small team and set out to find a partner with the right capabilities and values, which led us to ACEN,” he said.

“The agreement with ACEN means that the Yindjibarndi people can actively participate in Australia’s renewable energy transition in a significant way that provides long-term economic benefits to our community, whilst also ensuring that we can protect and preserve all areas within Yindjibarndi Ngurra which are of cultural, spiritual and environmental significance to us.”

ACEN is the developer behind some of Australia’s biggest renewables projects, including the New England solar farm where the $650 million, 400-megawatt first stage went live in March.

ACEN International chief executive Patrice Clausse said his company was grateful for the trust of the Yindjibarndi community in exploring development opportunities.

“The Pilbara region is home to some of the largest industrial energy users globally, many of which have expressed their desire to participate in a transition to a carbon-neutral future,” he said.

Mr Clausse said the partners, who have formed a company called Yindjibarndi Energy Corporation, were already in talks with potential offtake customers.

Clean Energy Council chief executive Kane Thornton said the agreement set a new benchmark for meaningful participation by Indigenous Australians in the energy transition.

Last November, Mr Woodley on behalf of YAC and Rio Tinto iron ore boss Simon Trott signed a revised agreement which guarantees the Yindjibarndi people $20 million a year for at least the next 10 years in return for granting Rio continued rail access across their traditional lands to deliver iron ore to the ports at Cape Lambert and Dampier.

Lysander
Lysander
July 17, 2023 4:45 pm

If I were Houso, I’d be looking at having the referendum (only needs 33 days notice) earlier rather than later.

Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
July 17, 2023 4:47 pm

BLM riots are coming to Australia…

Deeply unlikely to be blazing suburbs.
I suspect we are looking at Hi-hi-ho-ho-Peter-Dutton-has-to-go protests, dramatic celebrity declarations of ‘This Is Not My Country Anymore‘, performance boycotts, street gluing, and dismal defense appeals to the Beak ‘Yeronner, my client was heavily provoked by the result of the Referendum when he [stole that car; was found in possession; bashed his de facto]….’

Mother Lode
Mother Lode
July 17, 2023 4:49 pm

And the really good, but unspoken, bit is that the urban fauxborigines would have to produce genealogical evidence to qualify even for their reduced share.

GENOCIDE!

You do something like that I guarantee that the number of Aborigines will plummet to about 10% of their current number!

You might as well give them blankets and let them drink from waterholes.

JMH
JMH
July 17, 2023 4:50 pm

Just as well I bought popcorn today!

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
July 17, 2023 4:50 pm

Deeply unlikely to be blazing suburbs.
I suspect we are looking at Hi-hi-ho-ho-Peter-Dutton-has-to-go protests, dramatic celebrity declarations of ‘This Is Not My Country Anymore‘,

I’d be concerned about farm invasions.

“Always was Aboriginal land

Always will be!”

JMH
JMH
July 17, 2023 4:52 pm

Dr Faustus
Jul 17, 2023 4:47 PM

You are always on the money, Dr. F.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
July 17, 2023 4:54 pm

Dear Albo, here’s why Fadden shows your honeymoon is over

Young voters deserted Labor in the Fadden byelection and renters turned on the Greens. Tarting up the result as anything other than trouble for the Albanese government is a mistake.

John Black Election analyst

Even the pet shop galah knows by now that the Fadden byelection marks the end of the honeymoon for Anthony Albanese.

But, if we rummage around the demographics of the booth swings, we start to wonder if the marriage itself is in trouble, as they show a big split between the ALP vote and the big emerging demographics who elected Labor to government in 2022.

And it’s not just Labor that is in trouble. The Greens bombed out big time in Fadden, exposing the stupidity of their deals with the Coalition to block construction of more homes, while the Voice referendum, now dropping to minority support in the opinion polls, could even be losing the support of the voters it is supposed to benefit.

First the details. Of the two thirds of the Fadden electors who bothered to turn up and vote (67.5 per cent), there was a 2.5 per cent swing against Labor candidate Letitia Del Fabro and towards LNP candidate local councillor Cameron Caldwell.

Caldwell had been dropped as state LNP candidate a decade earlier after attending a swingers club theme party called Pirates of Broadwater. Dressing up like Captain Feathersword rendered Caldwell unsuitable as a state MP, but was no problem for the LNP when it came to choosing their federal candidate.

Three months ago, 85.6 per cent of Aston voters turned out to vote in the April 1 byelection, in which there was a 6.4 per cent swing towards successful Labor candidate Mary Doyle against professional Liberal candidate Roshena Campbell.

So, two byelections, three months apart, but the swing towards the ALP had dropped by nearly 9 per cent and the turnout fell by 18.1 per cent.

The real story behind the numbers

To tart this turnaround up as anything other than a collapse in support for the ALP and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese does them no favours. Unlike the spin doctors, we’re always keen to help, so here’s the real story of what happened to the ALP vote, booth by booth, last Saturday.

Deserting the ALP were three normally strong Labor family stereotypes which determine who wins and who loses marginal suburban seats across the country. These were:

Young, Transitional Voters. These are young adults finishing their education and moving out from under the influence of mum and dad, even if they remain living in the family home, where they still never tidy up their room.

Traditional Swinging Voters. These are young families, paying off a mortgage, balancing the budget to send the kids to school. This demographic has been deciding elections in the ’burbs since Gough Whitlam won Werriwa in 1952, the year your humble correspondent entered this life as one of his constituents.

The Aspirational Left. These are young Asian migrant families dominating population growth in recent years, working full time in IT or in the public sector, and earning about $150,000 per year. This is a huge, emerging demographic, highly aspirational and transactional, buying private health insurance and paying for non-government school fees, but tending to vote Labor.

So, if you can find a way of talking face-to-face with more of these voters Anthony, I’d suggest you start now, perhaps by asking John Howard what he did between the 2001 byelection in Ryan (won by Labor) and Aston (held by the Liberals).

The lesson then was, if you and your campaign strategists think you’re going to coast to a comfortable victory, as they did in 2021, then the voters can smell it and they chuck a vote to the bloke who’s desperate to win their affection.

Fewer selfies with world leaders Anthony, would help you to find the time.

Undergraduate stupidity costs Greens

If Labor is in trouble, it’s nothing compared to the demographic cul-de-sac the Greens have been led into by their housing spokesperson ‘Mad’ Max Chandler-Mather. The Greens bombed out, big time, losing 4.5 per cent of the 2022 vote of 10.7 per cent to both the Legalise Cannabis Party (aka the Pot Party) and to the LNP.

The Green strategy of voting with the Coalition against Labor’s housing reforms almost halved their primary vote in Fadden and damaged the ALP, but boosted the Coalition and the Pot Party, who’d be delighted if only they could work it out what happened, man.

The supposed beneficiaries of Mad Max’s strategy – renters – swung to the Coalition candidate Captain Feathersword, with lesser swings to the Pot Party. It’s always party time on the Gold Coast.

The renters of Fadden swung against the Greens big time, and against Labor, via a loss of Green preferences, explaining most of the overall swing against the ALP. As Max would say: HOW DARE THEY!

This display of undergraduate stupidity and hubris from the Greens is going to flatten their primary vote across the country, if Fadden is any guide.

Labor vote goes backwards on Voice

Given its strong support for the Voice campaign, we expected the Labor vote to improve across booths with higher proportions of Indigenous voters, as this group is reported by pollsters as strongly supporting the Voice, despite weakening support among all voters.

However, Labor’s primary vote went up significantly in booths with more non-Indigenous voters and backwards in areas where there were more Indigenous voters and people of Aboriginal ancestry.

The reverse happened for the Liberal primary vote.

This could have been due to other factors related to age or income, and we haven’t yet done detailed profiles. But the Fadden vote infers that Labor’s support of the Voice campaign is helping non-Indigenous voters to “feel better about themselves”, to quote Albanese, but Indigenous Australians could be listening more to prominent anti-Voice campaigner Coalition senator Jacinta Price.

It would seem that voters, including Indigenous voters, could be more prepared to support the Voice in opinion polls than they are in the polling booth, from the evidence in Fadden and if the opinion polls are tracking down below 50 per cent, this referendum will fail badly.

All in all, Fadden provides a wake-up call for a wide range of political players on the national stage.

They would have been a lot more terrified if the alienated one-third of non-voters had actually turned up.

That could have been really scary for the chattering classes. So, it’s time to put on the walking shoes, Anthony.

I guess, however, for Labor, it’s not all bad news. After all, Peter (Dig Me Up) Dutton’s fortunes have been exhumed within the Coalition by the Fadden result, and if he’s still around at the next election, there’s always hope for Labor and Anthony.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
July 17, 2023 4:56 pm

Cite you the mob who drove a vehicle with no muffler through a mob of ewes in lamb – a feat roughly equivalent to driving a tank through the labor ward of a maternity hospital…

Lysander
Lysander
July 17, 2023 4:58 pm

Deeply unlikely to be blazing suburbs.

Yeah I 100% doubt it but I reckon a racial crew of Melbournetards (read Marxists) all stirred up about the “No” prevailing could get dangerous in the CBD.

Tom
Tom
July 17, 2023 5:02 pm

Young voters deserted Labor in the Fadden byelection and renters turned on the Greens. Tarting up the result as anything other than trouble for the Albanese government is a mistake.

John Black Election analyst

OldOzzie, thanks for posting that from the AFR. John Black has more credibility than any of the media pundits on election analysis.

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 17, 2023 5:02 pm

After all, Peter (Dig Me Up) Dutton’s fortunes have been exhumed within the Coalition by the Fadden result, and if he’s still around at the next election, there’s always hope for Labor and Anthony.

Even Spud can’t save Albo. The bruvvas will see to that.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
July 17, 2023 5:03 pm

Boambee.
Can you imagine the decade of bad blood as various “ pascoes” were outed, and 3/4 of the beard & hat brigade calling themselves leaders are shown to be 1/2 blood at best.

It would be glorious

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
July 17, 2023 5:03 pm

Rosie I didn’t know about the waiter, was it from embarrassment.

Top Ender
Top Ender
July 17, 2023 5:05 pm

Thanks Rosie – will check out your Madrid suggestions…

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
July 17, 2023 5:09 pm

Yeah I 100% doubt it but I reckon a racial crew of Melbournetards (read Marxists) all stirred up about the “No” prevailing could get dangerous in the CBD.

“Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance” shut down the Melbourne C.B.D. when the Liberal Government of Western Australia proposed closing down some of the nonviable outback communities.

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 17, 2023 5:09 pm

Booths with high indigenous representation on the Gold Coast? Please explain? As they say in the classics.

Lysander
Lysander
July 17, 2023 5:13 pm

Booths with high indigenous representation on the Gold Coast?

You haven’t heard of the Booth family???

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
July 17, 2023 5:16 pm

Black Mountain Analysis

NATO Summit and Further Geopolitical Events [i]

Discussion About the Risks of Escalation

ALEKS

In the last several days, some interesting events happened that warrant discussion:

. The NATO Summit in Vilnius took place.

. The commander of the 58th Russian Army has been dismissed.

. Two interesting escalatory steps have been announced by NATO.

. European Industry vs. European Military.

. Erdogan and Turkey.

I will summarize my thoughts on these items.

First Thoughts about the NATO Summit in Vilnius

The NATO summit in Vilnius has been very interesting. But before I enumerate my thoughts about it, first let me show you the following picture. (PS Note the Mop) Since it has already circulated for several days, most of you will have seen it:

Of course, the picture is edited slightly but I think, compared to the original it sums up perfectly the results of that meeting. The bucket and the mop of course were added. Now, let’s go through some of my thoughts about what we saw at the summit:

1. Ukraine is being cut off gradually from support.

2. Ukraine did not achieve any of the goals set by the West.

3. Ukraine is/has lost.

4. No one believes in both a victory in the war and the further existence of Ukraine.

5. Most importantly: The West has begun to distance itself from Ukraine in order to prepare for possible future negotiations with Russia/BRICS/The World.

6. The condom “Ukraine” will be used thoroughly until apparently November 2023 and then thrown away in the bin of history.

Keep these six points in mind, and view the picture above again. Let it sink in slowly. Take your time.

Internal Struggles in the Russian Army

Basics

– Information Policy and Operations Security

Thoughts about the Current Status of the War

Basics

The Ukrainians currently have no chance whatsoever to reach either the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant, nor the Azov Sea, nor Crimea. Why not?

First of all, of course, because of the preparations that Russia made months ago for this defensive battle. All the fortifications and defensive lines. And especially the traps and minefields. I wrote extensively about those already.

Second, the 58th Army is defending this perimeter. These are absolutely bad-ass and determined guys. It is one of Russia’s best formations. It was the 58th Army that defeated Georgia back in 2008 within a few days. A whole country brought to heel by only one out of numerous armies of the Russian Armed Forces.

There have been many indications that the second phase of the Ukrainian assault would be a river crossing in Kherson. I did predict that in one of my articles (see here). Nevertheless, the Russians are doing the right thing and stretching the Ukrainians thin in many directions. In particular, the offensive by the 1th Guards Tank Army in Kharkov (Kupyansk direction) might be a shock for Ukraine. It could lead to the redirection of troops planned for the breaching or crossing operation in the South to the defense in the North. Russia is gaining hundreds of meters and on some days a few kilometers in this direction. Recently Russia took several villages, e.g., Novoselivske. Which of course is now sucking up hundreds or thousands of Ukrainian troops from the southern direction.

This might not stop President(?) Zelensky still ordering the breach and crossing operation in Kherson but with a far weaker fist. Which means for Russia a better position for destroying these troops everywhere with fewer losses. This is essentially what President Putin said a few weeks ago in the interview with several Russian war correspondents. It is a pity that Ukraine blow up the dam and now can’t cross the river. The troops could be destroyed far more easily. This is what now COULD still happen. It would be another major war crime by the putsch regime in Kiev against its own people.

Cluster Ammunition

Risks of the Continuation of the War in Ukraine

What I write here should not be needed to be written. But I will do it.

I concluded in my last analysis that Russia, at the end of August, will be in a position to checkmate Ukraine. This is not an instantaneous process, but the checkmate process could be initiated at the end of August, and hopefully conclude within a reasonable time.

I see three possible scenarios:

1. Encircling Kiev without taking it. Force capitulation and eliminating the most important resources for the continuation of the war by the Kiev Nazi putsch regime.

2. Cutting off Sumy-Dnipropetrovsk-Zaporizhia.

3. Continue the current slow grinding approach for another year.

My thoughts:

1. I think it would be a logical and necessary conclusion of my strategic framework to put an end to the war this year. I’m referring to large-scale armored combat. Of course, the mopping up and denazification will take years and require further conflict, which will cost further casualties, etc.

Nevertheless, the war needs to be concluded by the end of the year, which means destruction of the organized Ukrainian army. This is more than achievable. The question is whether that is the plan or whether some other geopolitical consideration would make Russia postpone this moment.

What I want to say is the following. The war MUST NOT be continued for another year. That would be fatal. First, because of the suffering of the people. But FAR more important is the following: My assessment of the probability of the start of WW3 is 15%. And 15% is only because of the threat of incidents and non-official actors trying to push their own agenda.

If this war continues for another year this would give all kinds of stakeholders/players more than enough time to increase their influence and pressure for unpredictable moves. Moreover, the probability of incidents would also in the same sequence skyrocket! If the war continues in the current manner next year, I would increase the probability of the start of WW3 by an unwanted incident or terrorist act up to 45%. Which is unbearable.

2. Considering the results of the NATO summit in Vilnius (please re-watch the Zelensky picture for the summarization of the results) there won’t be a continuation of the war into the next year. At least not in the current intensity. It will be more like rolling up a collapsing army and nation. Will there be a Kiev encirclement under these circumstances? Only the Russian General Staff knows.

Maybe it won’t be needed at all. This is also a possibility that I outlined in my last article. Remember? The Russians could wait if they have information that the collapse of Ukraine and/or its army is imminent.

The NATO summit seems to have just increased the probability for this scenario manifold.

Tom
Tom
July 17, 2023 5:19 pm

Hahaha. Elbow thinks Australians, in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis his government caused, want more “social justice”. Poor old Trotskyist Elbow thinks the proletariat will vote for revolution if only it is shoved down their throats more and makes them poorer.

Australians are learning through bitter experience that left-win governments: a) don’t understand money; b) always increase the cost of living; c) always make the suburbs more dangerous by siding with criminals against families.

Elbow belongs in the Soviet Union of the 1970s.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
July 17, 2023 5:20 pm

Sowing the Wind

WILLIAM SCHRYVER
20 JUL 2022

For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind …

Hosea 8:7

Ukraine is urgently requesting delivery of MGM-140 ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile System) missiles from the US. These missiles can be launched by the already-delivered HIMARS launchers, and depending on the missile variant, they purport to be able to accurately strike targets out to 300 km, carrying a 500 lb. warhead.

Whereas the HIMARS launchers typically carry a six-missile pod, the ATACMS is so large and heavy that HIMARS is only capable of carrying one at a time.

These missiles have been around since the early 1990s. About 3700 were manufactured before the program was cancelled because of its exorbitant cost. Around 500 have been sold to various international customers.

They were deployed and used in Iraq and Afghanistan, but it is not readily known how many have been expended by the US since 1991. Suffice it to say the remaining inventory is limited and finite.

Ukraine has explicitly requested these missiles in order to strike targets in Crimea (and undoubtedly elsewhere in Russia, within its maximum 300 km range).

Despite its previous prohibition on the use of HIMARS to strike targets in Russia, the US has now implicitly granted its permission to use ATACMS missiles against Crimea, given its stance that “Crimea is Ukraine”.

There have also been specific aspirations, expressed by multiple Ukrainian sources, to strike the recently completed Kerch Strait Bridge between mainland Russia and the Crimean peninsula.

Needless to say, any strike against Crimea, and particularly against the Kerch Strait Bridge, would represent a major escalation of direct US involvement in the Ukraine War.

Strategically speaking, the introduction of a small number of ATACMS into the battlefield is not going to make a meaningful difference in the outcome of the war. And it is highly unlikely the US would consent to deliver more than just a few of these extremely expensive and effectively irreplaceable missiles.

Furthermore, it would require multiple strikes against the bridge to inflict serious damage. But the symbolic significance is almost certain to provoke the Russians to respond in a decisive and heretofore unprecedented fashion.

What form that putative response might take is difficult to predict. They have previously spoken of striking at “decision-making centers”, and have vaguely intimated this could even mean targets outside of Ukraine. Striking NATO “decision-making centers” would, of course, be a portentous step … but I think it would be naïve to dismiss the possibility outright.

As I have noted previously on this blog, the Russians have correctly concluded that they are already at war with America and its NATO allies. That being the case, they simply could not passively submit to a US-facilitated strike against Crimea. Failure to retaliate boldly and promptly could even threaten the continuing viability of the Putin regime. The stakes are that high.

For my own part, I continue to believe the most likely form a Russian “counter-escalation” would take is the targeting and destruction of airborne US intelligence and surveillance assets in the region – aircraft and drones that routinely fly over Poland, Romania, and the Black Sea, and which have been of paramount importance to Ukraine’s ability to survive as long as they have in this war.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
July 17, 2023 5:21 pm

BBS at 4:26.
My point about the pre-Christmas vote was not that Elbow was trying to win it. This would be the tactic if he realises it’s a lost cause and he wants to bury it in amongst massive distractions. Footy Grand Finals fall outside the time window, so the next available distraction squirrel dates fall in December.
The referendum fails, Elbow does the obligatory “very disappointed, broke the heart of a nation, yada, yada” presser, then departs until the third week of January.
It’s called burying bad news.

johanna
johanna
July 17, 2023 5:26 pm

Flicking through the channels on FTV – on TheirABC – Australian Story doing a hagiography of David Pocock. Just as I flicked in, someone said ‘everyone burst into applause for David.’

You get the idea. Nauseating.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
July 17, 2023 5:28 pm

Janet Yellen Consumed Psychedelic Mushrooms In China: Report

BY TYLER DURDEN

MONDAY, JUL 17, 2023 – 10:55 AM

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen may have been tripping balls when she fervently bowed before a Chinese official last week, after the 76-year-old ate four portions of jian shou qing, a type of wild mushroom with unpredictable psychedelic effects.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
July 17, 2023 5:28 pm

Lysander

Jul 17, 2023 4:45 PM

If I were Houso, I’d be looking at having the referendum (only needs 33 days notice) earlier rather than later.

That is the other option.
Instead of looking for a distraction like footy or Christmas, just get it done and move on, and hope the heat goes out of it before the next election.
If it fails badly, Elbow will long for the days when he was just fighting Torries.

Boambee John
Boambee John
July 17, 2023 5:32 pm

Tom
Jul 17, 2023 5:02 PM
Young voters deserted Labor in the Fadden byelection and renters turned on the Greens. Tarting up the result as anything other than trouble for the Albanese government is a mistake.

John Black Election analyst

OldOzzie, thanks for posting that from the AFR. John Black has more credibility than any of the media pundits on election analysis.

Isn’t Black a former Labor senator?

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
July 17, 2023 5:35 pm

Bit Expensive – Thoughts?

Welcome to the Australian Digital Concert Hall – Australia’s leading digital arts platform.

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Boambee John
Boambee John
July 17, 2023 5:37 pm

thefrollickingmole
Jul 17, 2023 5:03 PM
Boambee.
Can you imagine the decade of bad blood as various “ pascoes” were outed, and 3/4 of the beard & hat brigade calling themselves leaders are shown to be 1/2 blood at best.

It would be glorious

Indeed. And the incentive to “out” themselves is there.

One-eighth? $125,000.

One-32nd? $31,250.

One-128th? Still nearly $8000. Even for that, some will happily expose their weak claims to being indigenous.

The love of money is the root of all eeeeviiiil.

Rosie
Rosie
July 17, 2023 5:38 pm

Also TE though you probably are already, day trips to Segovia and Toledo, I’ve gone on the VFT but I think Toledo is probably better value and more convenient via a tour bus.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
July 17, 2023 5:38 pm

All wedding, no marriage.

Far too much is made of weddings these days. For our two, Hairy and I have forked over massive amounts of money for prime venues and food. More for our daughter than our son, but we still made a hefty contribution towards his as well. It was an expectation of the times that we do so for both.

My two marriages have been all marriage, no wedding fuss at all, but very thoroughly and legally wed each time nevertheless. It was done in the past, which we all know is another country.

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 17, 2023 5:43 pm

Isn’t Black a former Labor senator?

Not sure about Senator. Certainly ex Liar. Not sure his slice and dice analysis adds much value in Oz thanks to compulsory preferential voting. ie what passes for democracy

Lysander
Lysander
July 17, 2023 5:47 pm

Happy 50th Coup Anniversary Afghanistan!!!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_Afghan_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
July 17, 2023 5:50 pm

The love of money is the root of all eeeeviiiil.

Can’t do much serious rooting without the stuff, though.

Bar Beach Swimmer
July 17, 2023 5:54 pm

It’s called burying bad news.

Sancho, the operative word there is “burying”.

It’s very hard to bury something – even at Christmas – when everyone is being called on to take notice of it by way of having to turn up and vote.

As well, the electorate is switched on enough to know that the thing is costing taxpayers millions to run which they will see in two ways.

First, that could have been money given in relief to the most financially overburdened – maybe not a huge amount when spread across those really in need, but something.

Second, they’re suffering and the govt is being shown only to care about one group who already receive way more financially and who the people are constantly informed are “intrinsically valued” far more than they.

Morrison changed our anthem’s wording from “young” to “one” because that “intrinsically valued” group complained we were not a young land. The nation now sings “one”. Yet the referendum question and the financial plight of mainstream voters vis a vis the Stone Age crowd confirms (reconfirms?) that the “oneness” of the nation is a fallacy.

Nothing’s going to bury this massive Albo own goal, unless he pulls it altogether. And that won’t happen because it’s now his tenure’s “greatest moral challenge”.

Chris
Chris
July 17, 2023 5:58 pm

Can’t do much serious rooting without the stuff, though.

And of course, the more the Government spends the more likely we are to be rooted.

JMH
JMH
July 17, 2023 5:59 pm

BBS at 5.54 pm:

Nothing’s going to bury this massive Albo own goal, unless he pulls it altogether. And that won’t happen because it’s now his tenure’s “greatest moral challenge”.

Yep. He’s done whichever way one looks at it. I am loving this.

Lysander
Lysander
July 17, 2023 6:04 pm

Well, it’d be extra butter on the popcorn if Labor were voted out in ’25 and Dutton moved to enshrine recognition (not a voice) in the Constitution… never say never…

Ed Case
Ed Case
July 17, 2023 6:04 pm

Not sure about Senator. Certainly ex Liar.

He was a [AWU] Senator for Qld in the early Howard Era.
He may have stepped aside for young Joe Ludwig.
What he’s saying could be right.

Greens ran a distant 5th behind Legalise Cannabis Australia and One Nation, they’ve dropped 6,000 votes [54%] in the Seat in 4 years.
Labor stood still on percentage with an Italian candidate in a Seat with good Italian representation in the southern half.

JMH
JMH
July 17, 2023 6:07 pm

I will not watch that permed bint standing in for Peta Credlin.

Indolent
Indolent
July 17, 2023 6:08 pm
Ed Case
Ed Case
July 17, 2023 6:09 pm

Jeannie Little?
The hag from Kath & Kim?
Does this sheila have a name?

Bar Beach Swimmer
July 17, 2023 6:13 pm

One more thing on Knickerless, which I’ve been meaning to make mention of. But given the erudite commenters here, someone may have previously pointed it out, given the story’s been going on for so long.

Why had every media outlet used the word rape instead of sexual assault, and continue to do so, in this case? Given that iirc the former was replaced by the latter decades ago to ameliorate the connotation that it carries for an accused?

It seems that in this case and right from the beginning, the accused was never going to be given the same rights that every(?) other person in his situation has been guaranteed.

Maybe suggesting more political involvement.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
July 17, 2023 6:14 pm

Day 2 in ‘Nam.
Was invited to chap next doors pissup/ lunch at 11:00. He’s the local barber and did my haircut yesterday.
About 15 people there, many.many cartons of been and various tasty dishes.
Karioke ( he has quite the setup).
Nice mob, they were ok with me doing “ ring of fire” but I slayed it with an old men at work number.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RY7S6EgSlCI

I begged off after a couple of hours, they are still going strong now 5 hours later.
Tiger beer over ice and decline the home brewed rice wine….

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
July 17, 2023 6:15 pm

Ve vill smite you, peasants, until you vill vote correctly!

Anthony Albanese concedes Voice Yes campaign ‘needs to be stronger’ amid polls showing support for body is in free fall (17 Jul)

Anthony Albanese has conceded the campaign for the Voice to Parliament “needs to be stronger” in putting the case to Australians amid falling support for the proposal.

In an exclusive interview with Sky News Australia’s Political Editor Andrew Clennell, the Prime Minister refused to accept the referendum would fail despite the latest Newspoll showing support plummeting to 41 per cent.

How dare you defy my awesomeness? I vill bring out my stronger campaign!!

Diogenes
Diogenes
July 17, 2023 6:20 pm

How dare you defy my awesomeness? I vill bring out my stronger campaign!!

The beatings will continue until morale improves.

Tom
Tom
July 17, 2023 6:21 pm

Isn’t Black a former Labor senator?

Yes he is, BJ — a rare ALP creature more interested in reality than ideology. His analysis of political and demographic trends in Australia is biblical in its accuracy. You can take it to the bank.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
July 17, 2023 6:22 pm

I like how they seem shocked electorates with the most exposure to Aboriginals are voting no more than Mosman.

It couldn’t possibly be because we see Toyota dreaming up close and will give it all. Due. Respect…

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
July 17, 2023 6:24 pm

You don’t fool me, as a chronic liar, boaster and fantasist here.

And on and on it goes. Sign of an addled brain if you ask me. Too much ABC?

The tropes, the endless tropes.

Glad she’s got some ‘mates’ for her picnic. I’d be glad for her it it were true.

Gilas
Gilas
July 17, 2023 6:24 pm

OldOzzie
Jul 17, 2023 5:35 PM

Bit Expensive – Thoughts?

Welcome to the Australian Digital Concert Hall – Australia’s leading digital arts platform.

Celebrate our nation’s artistry with over 200 exclusive live broadcasts and a growing range of On-Demand performances in 2023.

After I was given what was incorrect info, I registered for $0.00 to hear expert commentary on the Sydney Piano Comp.. and was immediately faced with the subscription request.
Didn’t subscribe, and didn’t see any content, eventually finding the Piano+ streaming site, as well as YT channel.
These were more than sufficient. No need to give $$ to these people.
Have since deleted the bookmark.

As anyone who has followed the recent Tchaikovsky Comp can attest, YT (with a suitable ad-blocker) is all one needs for streaming international-quality classical music.
These grifters can go grift somewhere else.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
July 17, 2023 6:25 pm

From the John Black article linked by OO.

It would seem that voters, including Indigenous voters, could be more prepared to support the Voice in opinion polls than they are in the polling booth, from the evidence in Fadden and if the opinion polls are tracking down below 50 per cent, this referendum will fail badly.

Black saying what I and many here think.
Even if the Yes vote slide is arrested and it plateaus at current polling levels (it probably won’t) those who tick “undecided” in opinion polls will break heavily towards “No” come The Big Day.

Crossie
Crossie
July 17, 2023 6:27 pm

Lysander
Jul 17, 2023 3:49 PM
Those telling poor/working folk, who can’t afford their energy bills, to fix this problem by buying some solar panels, is a bit off…. If they had a handy $15K, I’m sure they’d be able to pay their power bills!!!

The Marie Antoinettes in government, upper public service and corporate leadership are advising us to buy solar panels and they can’t see how they appear. The stupidest man in Australia, Chris Bowen, is completely without empathy or understanding of what is happening out there in suburbia. Strangely enough his electorate is hardly well off.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
July 17, 2023 6:27 pm

In an exclusive interview with Sky News Australia’s Political Editor Andrew Clennell, the Prime Minister refused to accept the referendum would fail despite the latest Newspoll showing support plummeting to 41 per cent.

Did Clennell go with “What can we do to help, Prime Minister?”

cohenite
July 17, 2023 6:32 pm

Dr Faustus
Jul 17, 2023 4:47 PM
BLM riots are coming to Australia…

Deeply unlikely to be blazing suburbs.

Already happening in Alice, Wadeye etc.

When Mabo occurred I had to go up and straighten out some abo grifters who had turned up at my uncle’s, a WW11 vet, farm and demanded he leave their land. These incidents will be much worse this time as we see happening in WA under the fu.king new abo cultural bullshit laws.

The thing about the left is despite being small in number, their extreme tribalism always gives them the advantage in physical confrontations. And the sheeple will have their heads up their arse until the front door is kicked in.

When the screech fails, and the vote will be controlled by rub and tug, I expect the ante to be considerably raised. It’s almost as though they would prefer a failure

cohenite
July 17, 2023 6:35 pm

The stupidest man in Australia, Chris Bowen, is completely without empathy or understanding of what is happening out there in suburbia. Strangely enough his electorate is hardly well off.

He’s not the stupidest: the idiots who voted for the bastard are.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
July 17, 2023 6:38 pm

Bar Beach Swimmer

Jul 17, 2023 5:54 PM

It’s called burying bad news.

Sancho, the operative word there is “burying”.

It’s very hard to bury something – even at Christmas – when everyone is being called on to take notice of it by way of having to turn up and vote.

OK.
I’ll try again.
1. Elbow is committed to holding this thing sometime in the last quarter of this year;
2. Assume he wakes up that da Voice is an amalgam of the Titanic, the Hindenburg and the space shuttle Challenger;
3. He then looks for the best time to run it within that time window where the media blowback on Elbow after it tanks will be minimised. That is clearly early December when most media organisations have drawn stumps for the WEB and he can go off on leave for four weeks hoping the hue and cry dies down.
4. Consideration of voter inconvenience will be of zero consequence to him. This is about Saving Private Elbow.

JMH
JMH
July 17, 2023 6:39 pm

“When the screech fails,” – we will have the Scream on steroids – and I agree with those who think violence will be unavoidable. Armour up.

Crossie
Crossie
July 17, 2023 6:40 pm

Lysander
Jul 17, 2023 6:04 PM
Well, it’d be extra butter on the popcorn if Labor were voted out in ’25 and Dutton moved to enshrine recognition (not a voice) in the Constitution… never say never…

The constitution does not need to be altered at all, certainly no to recognise anyone. The indigenes are citizens just like everyone else. How about they join the rest of us in making it a better place?

Ed Case
Ed Case
July 17, 2023 6:40 pm

I’d be interested to know how many people think it’s an Aborigines Only Vote and doesn’t concern them?
ATSIC and it’s predecessors was Aborigine Only Voting and Australian voters aren’t generally well informed.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
July 17, 2023 6:42 pm

Not really taking too much out of the Fadden by-election.
From what I can tell, turnout was under 70%.
Is that right?

Gilas
Gilas
July 17, 2023 6:43 pm

Have noted earlier erudite discussions about upticking on this august blog…
I might as well nail my colours to this particular mast:

If upticks are so important and/or informative, then so are downticks.
I simply can’t understand why there’s no downticking option, surely this isn’t to prevent posters’ deep hurties and disappointies?
Really??

If we are going to get real about feedbacking posts then both types should be available.
Eddles-bot and Montz might find it most instructive.

Also, thank you Dover for putting comment and page number pointers at both ends of each page.

Ed Case
Ed Case
July 17, 2023 6:46 pm

BLM riots are coming to Australia…

Deeply unlikely to be blazing suburbs.

There were no blazing suburbs in the U.S., due to Gun Ownership.
Yeah, I know, the MSM didn’t report on that.
In America, Blacks are 13%, Hispanic Blacks another 5 or 6%, then there are African and Haitian Illegals., all up perhaps 60 million.
In Australia, 15,000, and they’re largely thousands of miles from the suburbs.

Boambee John
Boambee John
July 17, 2023 6:47 pm

Lysander
Jul 17, 2023 6:04 PM
Well, it’d be extra butter on the popcorn if Labor were voted out in ’25 and Dutton moved to enshrine recognition (not a voice) in the Constitution… never say never…

Howard proposed such recognition many years ago. He even got Les Murray to write a poetic statement. I’ve forgotten what happened, but I think that the Liars took a “not invented by us” dog in the manger approach.

Crossie
Crossie
July 17, 2023 6:49 pm

Sancho Panzer
Jul 17, 2023 6:42 PM
Not really taking too much out of the Fadden by-election.
From what I can tell, turnout was under 70%.
Is that right?

How can that he when voting is compulsory? What was the percentage of informal votes?

cohenite
July 17, 2023 6:49 pm
H B Bear
H B Bear
July 17, 2023 6:49 pm

Good Groogling Groogs.

Ed Case
Ed Case
July 17, 2023 6:50 pm

Eddles-bot and Montz might find it most instructive.

Mate, you’re so far up yourself, the worms are playing ping pong in your nostrils.

Your opinions about Classical Music aren’t worth JackShit either.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
July 17, 2023 6:52 pm

Gilas

That would be like rubbing a developmentally challenged shittzus snout in its own poop. The mongs would eventually enjoy it.

Ed Case
Ed Case
July 17, 2023 6:52 pm

On John Black?
It was a long time ago, I just fluked it.
If I’d searched it, I woulda dropped a Link.

Rosie
Rosie
July 17, 2023 6:52 pm

The biggest threat from yessers so far is the refusal to do welcome to country ceremonies post referendum.
I’d be barricading Footlockers and Athlete’s Foot stores, just in case.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
July 17, 2023 6:54 pm

Angela’s Ashes, for those of you who don’t know and wonder what the hell Johanna is always going on about:

Angela’s Ashes provides an interesting twist on the usual narrative of “immigrant fiction”—here the protagonist is born in America, goes to Ireland, and then spends his early adulthood trying to go back. From the start, Frank McCourt makes it clear that his memoir is not going to be a happy one—it’s going to be about his “miserable Irish Catholic childhood.” He is direct and sometimes even humorous about the varieties of misery he experienced, however, and this keeps the book moving forward at a quick, entertaining pace.

I read it quite a while ago. It’s an Irish ‘coming of age’ story. It is important as literature because it shows an Ireland that has now disappeared, one terribly poor and under the rule of a sometimes vicious Catholic hierarchy, where people had to rely on kin for assistance when in dire circumstances; also one where alcoholism was rife and very damaging and immigration provided an escape. It seems to me the Irish have now simply reversed gear and allowed the exact opposite of the Church to prevail, immorality and hedonism as sort of counter-protest in an age of EU largesse. They’ve ended up with the loss of many older certainties and have in a sense set themselves adrift from their past. That’s never good.

Having now just set the publication seal on my Arthurian material (final version in today at Quadrant), at least for the time being, for I need a break, I am tossing up whether to put myself through the turmoil of writing up an Australia in the 40’s and 50’s that my own immigrant parents experienced. Their story connected to Britain during World War 2, has more in it than one might imagine. I will be mulling this over in Malaysia. Does one memoir something like this, or novelise it and lose history?

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
July 17, 2023 6:54 pm

How can that he when voting is compulsory? What was the percentage of informal votes?

Look, I don’t want to fall for that Twostix thing, where the AEC calls the progressive number of votes counted “turnout”.
And it keeps increasing if they count more votes during the following week.
But as it stands at the moment they have accounted for 89,560 ballot papers (including informals) out of an enrolment of a bit over 131,000.
Is it postals and pre-polls not yet counted?

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
July 17, 2023 6:56 pm

Oh, and Johanna, getting my retaliation in first, write up your own immigrant story rather than having a go at me about mine. You know nothing about that.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
July 17, 2023 6:57 pm

I’ve forgotten what happened, but I think that the Liars took a “not invented by us” dog in the manger approach.

Aborigines complained that they hadn’t been consulted and the referendum went down in a screaming heap, along with a a referendum to decide whether the President of an Australian republic should be voted on by a joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
July 17, 2023 6:58 pm

Lizzie.
Straight question.
How many people do you think give a fat rat’s clacker about the ongoing stoush between you and Johanna?
Or, put another way, do you think anyone who does support one or the other is likely to flip sides on the basis of campaign speeches posted here.
Or even move from bored neutrality to committed foot-soldier for Team Lizzie or Team Johanna?

JC
JC
July 17, 2023 7:00 pm

Gilas

Thanks for the medical advice. She received a third opinion and it basically conforms with yours.

She couldn’t be bothered before her Italian holiday, which is why it took so long.

1. No stent required.
2. Laser off a protruding vein
3. But no issue with Lupus

Get looked at every couple of years.

The problem with the medical work out in NYC is that docs are super specialized and diagnosis can sometimes be very difficult if you fall between the cracks. The last doc is a well known vascular dude.

There’s no accepted way of getting to specialists there as you can choose to go see internists (I guess they’re GPs), physicians or simply book up with a specialist you may think would be appropriate. It can be maddening at times, but that’s the US for you. Nothing is ever clear.

Two of the three agreed with you. No stent as you’re too young and there’s no real blockage except for the single vein.

Ed Case
Ed Case
July 17, 2023 7:02 pm

Turnout # includes Informals.
The AEC says enrollment is 131,000, turnout was 89,000.
Speersy reckoned there’s a lotta Postal Votes issued that hadn’t turned up by Close of Poll Saturday.

Gilas
Gilas
July 17, 2023 7:03 pm

Ed Case
Jul 17, 2023 6:50 PM

Mate, you’re so far up yourself, the worms are playing ping pong in your nostrils.

Yet more evidence of an algorithm malfunction right here!

Your opinions about Classical Music aren’t worth JackShit either.

I’m deeply grateful and honored that the bot takes the time to parse/scan intelligent, erudite posts like mine.

Whereas, I simply scroll your excreta.

Black Ball
Black Ball
July 17, 2023 7:03 pm

A dickhead has thoughts on another dickhead. Aisling Brennan reports in the Hun:

Victorian opposition leader John Pesutto believes he’ll be facing a different Labor leader at the next election, while predicting Premier Dan Andrews will quit politics this year.

Mr Pesutto has questioned Mr Andrew’s future as state leader, saying the premier has “checked out” as Victoria grapples with soaring debt.

Earlier projections forecast Victoria’s net debt will reach $171.4bn in the financial year of 2026-27.

Mr Pesutto said if he’s elected at the next state election, due in late 2026, he was expecting the debt to be a lot higher than projected.

“We don’t know what we’ll inherit when by 2026 because we have seen reports from the parliamentary budget office and others which suggest that debt could be as high as $300bn, so it gets worse,” Mr Pesutto told 3AW on Monday.

“The damage will be deep, it will be long lasting, and it raises serious questions about what Daniel Andrews’ legacy will really be when he leaves office.

“Probably this year. Everything suggests that he’s checked out.”

Mr Pesutto said his party was preparing to build a better future for Victoria, while also dealing with the increasing debt.

“We’re going to have to do it step by step and methodically,” he said.

“I’m not pretending, and I don’t want your listeners to think you can go in and click your fingers and it’s all fixed.

“The discussion we need to have is what is (Mr Andrews’) legacy, we need to understand that to fix it.”

Mr Andrews has led Labor to three consecutive election victories since 2014.

Couple of things, Pesutto thinks the Coalition will win the next election, with him as leader. Stifle your laughter kind reader.

JC
JC
July 17, 2023 7:05 pm

cohenite
Jul 17, 2023 6:49 PM

Actress Charlize Theron adopts 2 black boys and turned them into girls.

This is why I watch old movies.

Okay, she’s a hammerhead, but she’s also a decent looker. Movies went to shit after about 2005. Your idea of “old movies” are the silent crap with Charlie Chaplin and even then taste would be suspect given your trannie obsession.

Johnny Rotten
Johnny Rotten
July 17, 2023 7:09 pm

Sadly, I had to retire from the Bond films. The girls were getting younger, and I was just getting too old.

– Roger Moore

JC
JC
July 17, 2023 7:10 pm

I know it’s early days and there’s still a lot of water to go under the bridge, but I get a feeling this government is a one term aberration. I reckon it’s currently running at 50/50.

Ed Case
Ed Case
July 17, 2023 7:10 pm

They count PrePolling on the night now.

All that’s left are Declaration Votes, not many of those, and Postals still have until next Friday COB to be returned.
Looks like the LNP won PrePoll outright.
The MSM are talking down the Swing, but it’s over 3% now, and there were 13 candidates.

Gilas
Gilas
July 17, 2023 7:12 pm

JC
Jul 17, 2023 7:00 PM

Thanks for the medical advice.

You’re welcome.

ArthurB
ArthurB
July 17, 2023 7:12 pm

I notice that we don’t see Marcia Langton’s smiling face much on the idiot box these days, what we do see is La Burney amassing frequent flyer points running around the country trying to persuade the punters to vote Yes. Did Albo and his maaates decide that Marcia might be a turn-off for the average Joe?

JMH
JMH
July 17, 2023 7:13 pm

Couple of things, Pesutto thinks the Coalition will win the next election, with him as leader. Stifle your laughter kind reader.

That arsehole is likely not to make it to the next election. No thinking body could possibly vote for Persecutto. Nor the Liberals in their current form.

Indolent
Indolent
July 17, 2023 7:14 pm
bons
bons
July 17, 2023 7:15 pm

Patrick Hall, Mayor of Canning on Bolt apoilogising to Aboriginal people and their shakedown merchants for being accused of being a bunch of thugs.
We have no chance.

JC
JC
July 17, 2023 7:18 pm

Indolent
Jul 17, 2023 7:15 PM

The Definition of Evil: The Evolution of Godless Practices: Eugenics, Infanticide, and Transhumanism

The last one – Transhumanism. Why would transhumanism, which is the quest to extend life , considered evil? WTF?

MatrixTransform
July 17, 2023 7:19 pm

then so are downticks

gilas

when voting is compulsory?

crossie

heheh … the union of those could transform the forum

Roger
Roger
July 17, 2023 7:19 pm

Not really taking too much out of the Fadden by-election.

Dutton shouldn’t either.

Even Stuart Robert couldn’t dent the Liberals chances in Fadden.

The last time they swung to Labor was after seven years of Fraser/Howard.

Ed Case
Ed Case
July 17, 2023 7:21 pm

The grove that he insisted on replanting was intentionally torched.

That tells me that the original planting was despite advice to the contrary, he tried to grandstand and got caught out.

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 17, 2023 7:22 pm

Yet more evidence of an algorithm malfunction right here!

Is the Grigbot still in Beta?

cohenite
July 17, 2023 7:22 pm

Okay, she’s a hammerhead, but she’s also a decent looker. Movies went to shit after about 2005. Your idea of “old movies” are the silent crap with Charlie Chaplin and even then taste would be suspect given your trannie obsession.

I’ve seen fish with hooks in them better looking than her.

I’m currently watching Audie Murphy movies. He was a nonpareil actor who could do more with a curl of the lip than others could do with a page of dialogue.

JC
JC
July 17, 2023 7:22 pm

This is considered evil?

transhumanism, philosophical and scientific movement that advocates the use of current and emerging technologies—such as genetic engineering, cryonics, artificial intelligence (AI), and nanotechnology—to augment human capabilities and improve the human condition.

FMD.

Johnny Rotten
Johnny Rotten
July 17, 2023 7:23 pm

If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.

– Lewis Carroll

Vicki
Vicki
July 17, 2023 7:24 pm

We currently have a blackout in two streets in our Sydney suburb. In a seemingly ridiculous decision Ausgrid has chosen to service two electricity poles from 6pm till 12am. Servicemen say too dangerous to pedestrians in daylight.

It certainly is a taste of things to come. Most neighbours seem to have chosen to go out for the night. We have candles right throughout the house & it is quite pretty. IPad works through phone & husband has the radio on. However – this is all novelty value. When the outages start in a regular basis it will be a different experience. We will then flee to the farm & the generator if the grid goes down at night.

Ed Case
Ed Case
July 17, 2023 7:25 pm

The last time they swung to Labor was after seven years of Fraser/Howard.

Completely different boundaries. In 1983 Fadden was completely inside Logan City.
By the time Stuart was elected, Logan City was covered by Rankin and Forde.

Rosie
Rosie
July 17, 2023 7:26 pm

What’s the theory re Fadden low turnout?
Libs disappear postal votes to make it look closer than it was?
Greens tell their voters to stay home?

Carpe Jugulum
Carpe Jugulum
July 17, 2023 7:26 pm

I’m currently watching Audie Murphy movies

A legend.

I like his westerns, my dad got me into them.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
July 17, 2023 7:28 pm

Victorian opposition leader John Pesutto believes he’ll be facing a different Labor leader at the next election …

He’s moving to Perth?

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
July 17, 2023 7:30 pm

Rosie

Jul 17, 2023 7:26 PM

What’s the theory re Fadden low turnout?
Libs disappear postal votes to make it look closer than it was?
Greens tell their voters to stay home?

Large boxes of Fat Cloive votes stolen by the AEC.
Obviously.

calli
calli
July 17, 2023 7:30 pm

Breakfast in Bergerac, then it’s off to see the old town. Will report back later.

Had an interesting conversation with some holidaying Brits, much ground covered. Covid response, degraded education, pressures on youth (they have teenage daughters). Interesting thing – a bit younger than us, they were “Remainers”. After complaining about the misrepresentation of the “Leave” case, it was pointed out to them that if younger people had got off their backsides and voted, things might be a little different. In other words, no one to blame but themselves.

My argument was based on the rights and wrongs of our compulsory voting system and what that means for our own upcoming referendum. They had woefully little knowledge of the issues surrounding the push, understandable given media coverage. What I enjoyed was a rational discussion with people who may or may not agree with me. Always refreshing.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
July 17, 2023 7:31 pm

I notice that we don’t see Marcia Langton’s smiling face much on the idiot box these days,

Marcia Langton gave the “NO” vote a fairly hefty free kick, when she said that a “NO” vote in the referendum would be the end of “Welcome to Country.”

Roger
Roger
July 17, 2023 7:31 pm

Thanks for that, Ed.

Good to know Google is accessible in Peshawar.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
July 17, 2023 7:32 pm

Watching The Shawshank Redemption. Captain Obvious moment – outstanding in all respects.

It was released in 1994. Other movie releases from 1994:

Once Were Warriors
Leon (The Professional)
Speed
Pulp Fiction
Natural Born Killers
Legends of the Fall
Dumb and Dumber (yes)
The Lion King
Maverick
The River Wild
Naked Gun 33 1/3
Reality Bites
The Crow
Forrest Gump
Interview with the Vampire
Ace Ventura.

A golden age. Compare and contrast with 2022:

Jerry and Marge Go Large
The Flash
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
Confess, Fletch
Avatar – The Way of Water
Kung Fu Ghost
Argentina 1985

Doomed, we are. Doomed.

MatrixTransform
July 17, 2023 7:33 pm

lest I be accused of importing anti-papist sectarianism to the Cat

Lollard

HB’s real name is Wycliffe

Bar Beach Swimmer
July 17, 2023 7:34 pm

Consideration of voter inconvenience will be of zero consequence to him. This is about Saving Private Elbow.

You’re forgetting how much the media wants this.

The media never forgave Howard when the republic referendum went down, even though everyone knew that he did not support the change.

So, I can’t see the media ignoring the outcome, even if Luigi thinks he can outwit using a December timeframe.

They will crucify him for not doing enough to get it over the line- and will do so even while they’re on leave, or when they get back.

Btw, the result will be known the same day as the vote. So no way that the well worn route for dealing with political detritus, will work.

He may think it will save him, but like everyone of the left, he lives in a bubble.

Carpe Jugulum
Carpe Jugulum
July 17, 2023 7:34 pm

Pesutto thinks the Coalition will win the next election, with him as leader. Stifle your laughter kind reader.

That is chuckle worthy, a Beta male with delusions of adequacy.

The SFL’s in Vicghanistan are unelectable.

Indolent
Indolent
July 17, 2023 7:34 pm

A documentary on Zelensky’s rise to power.

A Scott Ritter Investigation: Agent Zelensky – Part 1

bons
bons
July 17, 2023 7:35 pm

The frustration levels are at Krakatoa levels.
SFL Vic pollie on Sky tonight protesting the destruction of the environment and ending rural enterprise by the Bowen transmission line outrage commenced her speil with “of course we all believe in renewables”.
Conservative’ pollies have lost their relevance to real Australia.
I repeat, “politely walking away” is Abbotism.
The only reason why I continue to attend my local Branch meetings is make the comfortable bastards think.

Ed Case
Ed Case
July 17, 2023 7:37 pm

35% of Voters in Fadden don’t speak English in the home.

That might have something to do with it.

A lotta new enrolments?

People have been moving to the Gold Coast for 50 years, mostly under the [incorrect] impression that there’s lotsa well paid work there.

MatrixTransform
July 17, 2023 7:37 pm

anybody know where to find a Djokovic v Alcaraz replay ?

JC
JC
July 17, 2023 7:38 pm

I’ve seen fish with hooks in them better looking than her.

You’re right, Cronkite. No even a port in a storm on a Friday night.

You’re delusional or need cataracts removed.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
July 17, 2023 7:39 pm

Forrest Gump

Degenerates like you belong on a cross
http://m.quickmeme.com/meme/3otftu

calli
calli
July 17, 2023 7:41 pm

On Covid, the British lady landed in hospital for over a week with the thing. I didn’t ask which variety she was diagnosed with, but it did bring home something that I had discounted – certain iterations of the virus were dangerous for some people.

No amount of speculation can negate the actual experience of others, no matter how enticing our preconceptions are.

JC
JC
July 17, 2023 7:41 pm
MatrixTransform
July 17, 2023 7:46 pm

Parenthood or narcissism?

stupidity

MatrixTransform
July 17, 2023 7:48 pm

if anybody is interested … English bible history

calli
calli
July 17, 2023 7:48 pm

She didn’t cut off her healthy breasts at all. A doctor, an anaesthetist and a bevy of nurses and therapists did the work at her request.

This is not a crime with a single perpetrator. It is mutilation sponsored and encouraged by the state and the medical profession with the permission of the mentally unwell.

Lobotomise me please Doctor!

Black Ball
Black Ball
July 17, 2023 7:53 pm

Don’t think Albo is of sound mind. He’s gone, Voice referendum will go down quicker than a 2 dollar hooker (HT Peter Sterling on Wired World of Sports)
I say this because people don’t need to be told that they are racist and the Yes campaign has reached saturation point and people have had a gutful.

The official cases for and against an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to parliament are expected to be published on Tuesday and distributed Australian households before the referendum vote expected to be held as soon as October.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese undermined the No camp’s case by arguing the opposition campaign was riddled with “disparate views” ranging from conservative senator Pauline Hanson to Greens senator Lidia Thorpe – with both voting no for very different reasons.

Mr Albanese said the Yes case will be a “coherent” cross-party case for an Indigenous voice to parliament.

“The Yes campaign is a coherent argument that’s been worked on by people from the Labor Party, from the Liberal Party, from the cross benches, who have all come together to endorse the Yes wording that will go out to the population,” he told Sky News.

“We will wait and see what the No campaign have done given the very disparate views that are in the No campaign from Pauline Hanson to Lidia Thorpe to Peter Dutton and others.”

Mr Albanese clung onto hope the referendum will succeed despite declining support in the polls.

The PM also ruled out announcing the date of the referendum at next month’s Garma Festival.

“I don’t plan to announce the date at Garma because that’s in a couple of weeks and it needs to be at least 33 days notice,” he said.

“I don’t think Australians appreciate very long campaigns – – that’s been the case in the past,” he said.

Mr Albanese said the typical campaign length of five to six weeks was “appropriate” for the Voice.

In response to Monday’s Newspoll, which showed support for the Voice falling to just 41 per cent, Mr Albanese denied the Yes case was doomed.

“I’m confident a majority of Australians in a majority of states will vote yes,” he said.

“I have faith in the Australian people – they know that we need to do better on Indigenous affairs.”

Lord have mercy.
Came with a poll in which 1800 plus votes have been cast, with 91 percent saying they will vote no to Teh Voice.

Black Ball
Black Ball
July 17, 2023 7:55 pm

anybody know where to find a Djokovic v Alcaraz replay ?

Try streaming 9Go.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
July 17, 2023 7:55 pm

Reading David Halberstam’s biography of Ho Chi Minh – during his student revolutionary days, in Paris, during the First World War, Ho wrote a political play “The Bamboo Dragon.” (Said to be so bad that it is not even preformed in Hanoi.)

Black Ball
Black Ball
July 17, 2023 7:57 pm

Scratch that, 9Go only have 10 minutes of highlights. Of which there were many, highest quality.

JC
JC
July 17, 2023 7:58 pm

Dover

Yes, it is evil.

In your opinion.

Transhumanism isn’t mere augmentation, it is trans, attempting to go beyond what is human.

Define your parameters.

Not ‘improving’ the human condition – you can’t, it’s a spiritual, not material, condition- but attempting to overcome it.

Of course you can improve the human condition. People are in hospital have organs replaced, cancers removed, and even joint replacements. You consider this evil now? So, just to get this straight, you disagree with say heart transplants? If so why, and if not why not seeing you consider improving the human condition to be evil.

calli
calli
July 17, 2023 7:59 pm

Awwwww…someone doesn’t like me being polite and listening and arguing rationally with the people I meet.

Far better to be a punish to them and cementing their silly ideas firmly in their heads rather than asking leading questions.

You can’t convince people by shouting at clouds. Only frothing idiots on both sides of an argument do that.

calli
calli
July 17, 2023 8:02 pm

Not ‘improving’ the human condition – you can’t, it’s a spiritual, not material, condition

As C.S. Lewis pointed out – you are a soul. You have a body.

Boambee John
Boambee John
July 17, 2023 8:02 pm

Ed Case
Jul 17, 2023 6:46 PM
BLM riots are coming to Australia…

Deeply unlikely to be blazing suburbs.

There were no blazing suburbs in the U.S., due to Gun Ownership.
Yeah, I know, the MSM didn’t report on that.
In America, Blacks are 13%, Hispanic Blacks another 5 or 6%, then there are African and Haitian Illegals., all up perhaps 60 million.
In Australia, 15,000, and they’re largely thousands of miles from the suburbs.

Turd Case

This might come as a shock to you, but there are around 800,000 people who claim to be aboriginal. Many of them live in the major cities. Many of them also are willing to riot in the streets (see the comment earlier by Zulu re the Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance closing down the centre of Melbourne, about something proposed to happen in WA). See also the streets of Alice Springs and Darwin any weekend and many weeknights, also Townsville and Dubbo.

Are you particularly stupid, or just shilling for Labor?

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
July 17, 2023 8:06 pm

Bar Beach Swimmer

Jul 17, 2023 7:34 PM

Consideration of voter inconvenience will be of zero consequence to him. This is about Saving Private Elbow.

You’re forgetting how much the media wants this.

I’m not forgetting anything.
Elbow is committed.
He has to have the referendum sometime.
So it isn’t a matter of getting out of it without losing any paint at all.
It is about minimising any damage to Elbow.
Not eliminating.
Minimising.
His two options are:-
1. Go early and hope it blows over.
2. Wait until there is maximum static for any adverse message. That is December.

Mother Lode
Mother Lode
July 17, 2023 8:06 pm

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese undermined the No camp’s case by arguing the opposition campaign was riddled with “disparate views” ranging from conservative senator Pauline Hanson to Greens senator Lidia Thorpe

That is genius. The fact there are more than one view different to his demonstrates how wrong they are.

If Lidia Thorpe’s ideal was put forward would the fact that there were at least two alternative views – Albo’s and Pauline’s – bolster Lidia’s case?

calli
calli
July 17, 2023 8:08 pm

On the “human condition” and medical interventions. I’m more than happy to have my injured knee replaced, probably sooner than later. The rotten thing has cramped my tripping over everything that doesn’t move style on account of having to walk slowly to minimise pain! 🙂

JC
JC
July 17, 2023 8:09 pm

As C.S. Lewis pointed out – you are a soul. You have a body.

Okay, sounds a little like some motherhood statement. What exactly do you consider evil in terms of medical treatments that prolong and enhance life. Let’s leave aside the mutilation crap as we’re not talking about that.

Do you think a heart transplant is evil, keeping in mind that I think the turtlehead has someone else’s heart.

Also, what would be your limit to human life? 85, 95, 110? We’re heading that way sooner than we think with the next drop of life extension pharma – particularly on the cancer side of things.

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